June 10

Erica waited outside the Dakota Community Centre for Jess and Rose. The plan was for her to ride her bike to Dakota while Jess and Rose drove home with Jess's mom. From there, Jess would take her bike and Rose would take Jess's 11 year old brother's and they'd ride down and meet Erica at Dakota.

It would all work out, in theory. But the clock was ticking and Erica didn't know wether they'd show up or not.

Finally she saw them biking through the parking lot. "Oh, good, you guys are here!" Erica exclaimed as they pulled up. "I was beginning to think that you wouldn't!"

"Yeah, sorry," Rose apologized. "Jess's mom caught us leaving with our backpacks and we had to tell her that we were going to the mall."

All of them had backpacks full of supplies: Erica's held food, Rose's held blankets, clothes, and rope, and Jess's held matches, an axe, and lots of money.

"So, are we going?" asked Jess, mounting her bike.

"Going where?" asked a curious voice. The three girls turned around. It was Grace Wilson, who they sometimes ate lunch with. She was wearing a Dakota Softball jersey and carrying a bat.

"Oh, uh..." stuttered Erica.

"We're going to the mall," said Jess quickly, before Erica could give everything away.

"Oh, okay. Well have fun." Grace went into the building and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

As they mounted their bikes, Erica began having second thoughts. Were they really going to run away from home, just to do something the cops could do easily without having them worry their parents and have a hard time surviving? But she didn't want to say it out loud, because she would feel like she was betraying her friends.

With a heavy heart, the three girls set off.